MIT Technology Review - Steven Chuhttp://www.technologyreview.com/tagged/steven-chu-0/
enQ&A: Steven Chuhttp://www.technologyreview.com/qa/534856/qa-steven-chu/
<p>The former energy secretary, who has begun chasing emerging technologies again, looks back on his successes and failures in government.</p><p>As a leading and active scientist, <a href="http://www.energy.gov/organization/dr_steven_chu.htm" target="_blank">Steven Chu</a> broke the mold when he became energy secretary of the United States in 2009. In his four years of service, he made the Department of Energy more innovative, launching the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy to support projects not yet ready for private investment. He also created Innovation Hubs to bring people from different disciplines together on energy problems and rejuvenated funding for solar research. Chu, who shared the <a href="http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1997/illpres/index.html" target="_blank">1997 Nobel Prize in physics</a> and directed the <a href="http://www.lbl.gov/" target="_blank">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a><span> before his government appointment, is now restarting his research group at Stanford. In a conversation with David Talbot, chief correspondent of <em>MIT Technology Review</em>, he reflected on his time with the federal government and talked about the research and technology questions absorbing him today.</span></p>Mon, 09 Feb 2015 05:00:00 +0000digitalservices534856 at http://www.technologyreview.comMusk Says Tesla Will Pay Off Its Loans in Half the Timehttp://www.technologyreview.com/news/511561/musk-says-tesla-will-pay-off-its-loans-in-half-the-time/
<p>Tesla’s CEO claims the company is a success, and partially credits the DOE loan program.</p><p>Speaking alongside Steven Chu at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy’s annual summit outside of Washington, D.C., Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, confidently declared that his company, which received a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, is a success story, and said the company would repay the loan in half the time it is required to. The loan is due by the end of the decade.</p>Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:59:00 +0000juniper.friedman511561 at http://www.technologyreview.comDOE to Lose Nerd in Chiefhttp://www.technologyreview.com/view/510681/doe-to-lose-nerd-in-chief/
<p>Energy secretary Steven Chu announced his departure today. He leaves behind a markedly different DOE.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Today U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu announced his decision to step down. Under his leadership, the U.S. Department of Energy has changed the way it does energy research and development. He leaves behind new research organizations that are intently focused on solving specific energy problems, particularly the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy as well as several Innovation Hubs. The latter were modeled closely on Chu’s experience working at the legendary Bell Labs, where researchers solving basic problems rubbed shoulders with engineers who knew how to build things. At one Innovation Hub, for example, researchers who are inventing new materials that can absorb sunlight or split water are working together with engineers who are building prototypes that could use those materials to generate fuel from sunlight (see “<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/429681/artificial-photosynthesis-effort-takes-root/">Artificial Photosynthesis Effort Takes Root</a>”).</span></p>Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:03:13 +0000Kevin Bullis510681 at http://www.technologyreview.comArgonne Innovation Hub Announcedhttp://www.technologyreview.com/view/508116/argonne-innovation-hub-announced/
<p>Argonne National Labs was selected to head the $120 million Innovation Hub</p><p>Today the Department of Energy established a new, $120 million center for battery research with an ambitious goal of making batteries for electric vehicles and electric grid storage five times cheaper within five years. The center, which will be headquartered at Argonne National Lab near Chicago, is the fourth DOE Innovation Hub, a novel type of research organization at DOE that’s meant to mimic the successful R&amp;D model behind the development of transistors, atomic weapons and radar. The strategy is to put together the “best scientists with the best engineers,” to speed up the process of commercializing advances, says Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who came up with the Hub concept based in part on his time at Bell Labs.</p>Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:42:56 +0000Kevin Bullis508116 at http://www.technologyreview.comFive New Government-Backed Energy Projects that Stand Out http://www.technologyreview.com/news/507951/five-new-government-backed-energy-projects-that-stand-out/
<p>Sixty-six new energy research projects were announced on Wednesday. Here are some interesting ones.</p><p>The U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E)—one of the few government agencies with solid, bipartisan support in Congress—<a href="http://arpa-e.energy.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Projects/OPEN2012_ProjectDescriptions_FINAL_112812.pdf" target="_blank">announced</a> 66 new research projects on Wednesday that will collectively receive $130 million. Here are five projects from the list that stand out.</p>Wed, 28 Nov 2012 22:45:11 +0000juniper.friedman507951 at http://www.technologyreview.com